


Suspicious Minds

by iWantMyDrumfredBack (BornBlue)



Series: Drummond Is Not Dead [2]
Category: Victoria (TV)
Genre: Drumfred, Edward Drummond Lives, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Romantic complications, Suspicions, Though Drummond isn't a character in this bit his presence is never far off...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-07 14:53:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14083380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BornBlue/pseuds/iWantMyDrumfredBack
Summary: When news of Drummond's broken engagement reaches the palace, Lord Alfred is put on the spot and discovers that they may already be in danger.





	Suspicious Minds

**Author's Note:**

> This draws on plot points from both the show (up until the episode-that-shall-not-be-named) and on things I've written on my own, including "After the Kiss" and "Drummond Breaks the Engagement." Some ideas about conventions of the time are on shaky ground, so don't take all my ideas as being grounded in actual fact. I've done my best to be accurate where it's possible, but giving them some happiness was definitely my priority.

Lord Alfred and Miss Wilhelmina Coke were just finishing their piano duet when the Duchess of Buccleuch whipped the newspaper closed. “How very odd. I’ve never heard of such a thing!” She folded it for emphasis and fixed her stare on Lord Alfred. Wilhelmina lifted her hands from the keyboard as the final notes of Mozart died away, and looked up to see her aunt’s furrowed brow aimed in his direction.

 

“Why, Aunt, whatever is it?” She rose from the piano bench to sit by the old woman.

 

“There is a most peculiar announcement in the newspaper declaring an _end_ to Mr. Drummond’s engagement. Such a disgrace! Why would one publicly announce anything so unsavory? It’s all most peculiar, wouldn’t you say, Lord Alfred?”

 

Alfred showed no outward signs of nerves, but inside they were lit up and panicking. Edward had told him it would appear today; why had he not been better prepared for this moment?

 

“It certainly seems out of the ordinary,” he replied. He gave the statement some finality, hoping to cut off further conversation, and busied himself in searching through a stack of music for… well, for _anything_ that he could play while utterly distracted by the emotions of the moment.

 

The Duchess, however, was not so easily dissuaded from her course of questioning. “Of course, Mr. Drummond was something of an apologist for the French court, as I recall; I wonder whether he is prone to European decadence? Perhaps he feels no compunction in flouting the customs of polite society.” She continued to watch Lord Alfred carefully, as a scientist might observe a subject of research. Alfred tried valiantly to ignore her, but she hounded him insistently. “Lord Alfred, would you know anything about this?”

 

He scoffed and looked her straight in the eye as if defying her to press him further. “What in the world would I know of Drummond’s engagement?”

 

Alas, she pressed on.

 

“I may be old, but I’m not blind. I can see that you and he are… very good friends. Would you say otherwise?” Alfred’s eyes were drawn to Wilhelmina, who looked distinctly uncomfortable as she shifted in her chair. He could swear she was willing herself to become smaller as she seemed to sink back and down, eyes fixed on her lap.

 

“We are friends, of course, but Drummond doesn’t make it a habit to keep me apprised of his engagement.” He made a valiant effort to lighten the mood: “Or perhaps in this case, his dis-engagement.”

 

The Duchess was not amused. “I have the distinct feeling you know more than you’re saying. In fact, Wilhelmina tells me—”

 

And at that, the two young people spoke at once. Wilhelmina was brought from her attempts to sink into the upholstery, snapping her alarmed face upward and exclaiming, “Aunt!” Alfred choked out as calmly as he could, “What did Miss Coke tell you?”

 

The Queen entered just at that moment with Harriet, in a bit of uncanny timing, and the three rose quickly to their feet. All their faces must have looked strange, as if each had been caught in a rather naughty act. “What have I interrupted? I have the distinct impression you were in the midst of an animated conversation.” As Alfred walked toward Victoria and the other women, he was looking suspiciously at Miss Coke (who in turn appeared unable to raise her eyes from the floor). “No, your Majesty," he replied, "we were merely discussing the news of the day.”

 

The Duchess, however, couldn’t resist interjecting her own view. “Actually, your Majesty, we were discussing the very _peculiar_ news of the day involving Mr. Drummond’s broken engagement.”

 

The Queen raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Really?! Of course, I never did see Drummond as the marrying kind, but that is certainly odd. The engagement had already been announced in the papers, as I recall.” 

 

“Even stranger than that,” the Duchess elaborated, “there is actually _another_ announcement in the paper today that reports its _end_ by mutual agreement. It is most unusual; I’ve never heard of anything like it.”

 

“No, that is extraordinary," Victoria replied. "Well, it seems a shame, but I suppose now he might focus exclusively on his career.” Alfred was wracking his brain for a way to change the subject before it might be turned back on him, when the Queen did it for him. “I came to ask the Duchess to accompany me to the throne room. I will be receiving the Duke of Montrose. I believe you two are old friends, are you not?”

 

The Duchess was immediately diverted. “Oh, yes, indeed, your Majesty! We go back many, many years. How delightful it will be to see him again!” She turned to follow after the Queen, though not without one last skeptical look at Alfred. As the three women left, he felt a great surge of relief rush through him, and felt himself take a deep breath. My goodness, had he been holding it in for the last few moments? 

 

He and Wilhelmina were still standing as she moved to follow the other ladies. “Perhaps I should join Her Majesty in the throne room, too.”

 

“Please, Miss Coke,” Alfred stopped her with his voice and motioned for her to return to her seat. “I should be grateful if you would remain for a brief word.” He stood like a statue, one hand indicating her chair, the other held behind his back where his hidden fingers nervously fidgeted. Once she had taken her seat, practically balancing at the edge of it, he sat as well, crossing his legs in an attempt to appear nonchalant. 

 

“I’m wondering to what your aunt might have been referring? Something you told her?” He sat in silent anticipation, the air thick with tension until she finally managed a reply. 

 

“Lord Alfred, I must apologize. I never imagined she would bring it up in front of you or anyone else. I thought I had told her in the strictest confidence. I simply wished for her to help me… understand.”

 

The hair on Alfred’s neck seemed to tingle a bit, and he could feel his restless fingers ready to tap the arm of the chair with nervous energy. Instead, he calmly asked, “Understand what?”

 

“What I saw in Scotland,” came the reply.

 

It was the closest Alfred had ever come to feeling he might truly faint. The room seemed to begin shifting both upward and to the side all at once, making him feel suddenly dizzy. Had he been standing, he would have had to sit immediately. As it was, his hands gripped the arms of the chair more tightly and he stiffened his spine a bit in order to remain upright. This could be very bad news indeed.

 

“And what did you see, Miss Coke?” She sat silently, apparently afraid to tell him anything more. In his smoothest court voice he added, “I’m not upset, but as your friend, it might be helpful for me to know what your aunt _thinks_ you saw.”

 

“If you promise not to be angry with me, Lord Alfred.”

 

“Of course I won’t. I promise.” He wondered whether the words sounded as hollow to her as they felt to him.

 

“It was that last evening, when you and Mr. Drummond failed to join the royal party for the after-dinner entertainment.” Now Alfred’s shoulders stiffened, too. “You were standing together near a pond on the grounds of Blair Castle, and it appeared you had… perhaps… been… embracing?” He began calculating the moment she witnessed, trying to work out what precisely she may have seen and how he might explain it away. “You stood so near together, with hands on each other’s shoulders. You just looked so close, and… well, tender. It’s what made me think of that Bible story of David and Jonathan. I’ve never seen two men look like that together, and I wasn’t sure what it could mean. If indeed it meant anything at all.”

 

So it would seem she did not see them kiss. Unless she was dissembling, but he did not think her capable of it. No, he felt reasonably confident she did not spy their actual embrace, but she must have come mere moments after, as they stood speaking. He tried to picture what she might have seen from a distance. Edward had taken his hand some short moments later and brought it to his lips; had she seen that, too?

 

“That was all? Nothing else?”

 

“No. I felt I might be intruding on a rather… private moment, so I returned to the castle.” She was looking at him now, still rather sheepishly, but with a barely discernible hint of curiosity.

 

He wasn’t quite sure how to explain away what she’d seen, so he changed tack instead. “And then you described your observations to your aunt, did you?”

 

“Well, I didn’t go running to her immediately. It was days later, when she wondered aloud to me about your close friendship with Mr. Drummond. I thought she might help me understand, though I’m still not entirely sure I do.”

 

He needed to end this conversation quickly now, before she began pressing him more directly. “I’m not sure there’s anything _to_ understand. Drummond and I have known one another for quite some time and we are friends. That’s all anyone needs to know.” 

 

He rose from his chair to give his statement greater finality, but as happened earlier with the Duchess, Wilhelmina would not let the conversation go right away. She looked him straight in the eye for the first time since the others had left. “So then why is he no longer engaged?”

 

Buttoning his coat, he replied somewhat coldly, “Perhaps you might ask your friend Florence about that.”

 

“Perhaps. I haven’t seen her in some time. I assumed she was busy with wedding plans, but it would appear not. Poor Florence—she was so excited. I wonder what went wrong?” She was looking at Alfred again. He could usually read her intentions very easily, so it was particularly unsettling that he now found her expression quite inscrutable. 

 

“Well, as I told your aunt, I wouldn’t know. Now, if you would excuse me, Miss Coke, I ought to inquire whether the Queen requires my service in accommodating the Duke.” He gave her a nod of his head as he turned to leave the room.

 

“Of course, Lord Alfred.”

 

Once in the hall, he caught himself against the wall and took a deep breath. Alfred was worried. There was no way around it. Miss Coke had seen _something_ in Scotland. It seemed she had not actually witnessed the kiss he shared with Drummond, but just barely. The moment she observed had been close enough, and it was certainly a dangerous turn of events for the Duchess herself to have that picture in her mind. She was already skeptical of the true nature of the friendship between Drummond and Alfred; that much was clear.

 

What might she do with her suspicions, though? Of that he had no idea. 

**Author's Note:**

> In canon, Miss Coke and the Duchess of Buccleuch appear to accept Alfred's feelings for Drummond. But it seems a bit convenient that we really don't see any actual evidence of that until Drummond is dead, Alfred is grieving, and their relationship is over. It's not that big of a challenge for either character to accept it (or maybe just overlook it) in that case, especially if they were angling for a potential match between Miss Coke and Lord Alfred. And since the Duchess believes that men only lend their hearts (wtf?!), she surely saw Alfred's relationship with Drummond as a youthful indiscretion (where have I heard that word before?) and a phase that might be left behind and forgotten. 
> 
> But IF Drummond had lived, and IF he and Alfred had both tried to remain single so they could be together without carrying on an adulterous affair, how would that have been received by these two characters who seem to be the only ones with an inkling of the two men's true intimacy? I thought I'd play with that idea for a bit, starting with this story.


End file.
